


Lip Service

by Hawkscape



Category: OFF (Game)
Genre: Banter, Blood, Body Horror, Eating, Fear, Gross, Injury, Inner Dialogue, M/M, Masks, Messy, Teeth, Tension, Video Game Mechanics, stomach mouth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-01
Updated: 2014-06-01
Packaged: 2018-01-27 21:20:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1722881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hawkscape/pseuds/Hawkscape
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zacharie hears some rumors about The Batter and decides to find out if they are true.<br/> </p><p>Plot bunny/Idea from tumblr user sillyandquiteawkward</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lip Service

The Batter walked into Zacharie's store late one night. This was not unusual due to the fact that the Batter would rarely sleep and would often go long swaths of time doing nothing but purifying specters with no regard to the time of day (or night in this case). Zacharie was unsure if this was due to The Batter's rampant devotion to his cause or the puppet masters rampant boredom (or perhaps blood lust). Zacharie didn't really care one way or the other given that The Batter and his puppet master was his only source of income. He was particularly happy to see his striped friend this night due to the fact that he had heard a rather delightful rumor about him earlier and wished to test its validity. 

The Batter was covered in coal dust and blood. Looked like he would be needing something to heal him up. Perfect. Ah, but that pesky save block would ruin all his plans. He could fix that with a little code messing, no harm done. Sure enough, the dirtied Batter walked over to the floating block in the corner of the shop to save. Zacharie quickly spoke up. “Ah, sorry mi amigo, it's out of order at the moment.” The Batter looked at him and raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. He proceeded to try and save at it anyway. Zacharie quickly closed his eyes as reached into the code for his shop to disconnect the path from the block to the save screen, he would reconnect it later. Wouldn't want anything to permanent to happen. He opened his eyes to The Batter repeatedly hitting the top of the block with his fist. “Hey Amigo, you break it you buy it, hehehe.” He smirked behind his mask at the muttered frustrations of his batting friend. He just couldn't resist a little push at his expense. “You could always eat some meat to regain your strength.” Yes, come on Batter, how hard would it be to just eat some meat? 

The Batter checked his inventory. He was out of meat at this moment, if he had had any he would have eaten it already. The stars were aligning in Zacharie's favor today, thought he supposed he would get to test his theory either way. He just got the added bonus of a few extra credits this way. The Batter walked up to the counter and Zacharie layed out a few slabs of meat on it. “How many amigo?” 

“Three.” Came the terse reply. The fighter grabbed the meat and went to put them in his inventory. 'Oh no you don't.' Zacharie thought. 

“Aren't your going to eat them?” Zacharie asked innocently, smiling like the Judge beneath his mask. The Batter paused mid motion. 

“No.” He said. 

“Why not?” Zacharie pushed. 

The Batter narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Why do you care, Zacharie?” He leaned forward into the store man's space. People had tried to intimidate Zacharie before, but he knew The Batter was no threat to him, at least not with the Puppeteer holding his leash. 

“I was just concerned for your health. Never let it be said that I don't have a heart.” The masked man pointed at his heart-emblazoned sweater. “But, what do YOU have mon Batter?” He said as he reached out and poked the Batter's stomach. It was a bold move, but a calculated one. Something moved under the shirt as he pulled his hand back and The Batter lurched forward as if he had been hit. 

“DON'T...” He said a little two loudly before lowering his voice down to a more regular level. “do that.” During this movement, their faces had become rather close and they locked eyes for a moment as a sudden realization came over The Batter before he pulled back. “So...” He narrowed his eyes even farther. “THAT'S what this is about.” 

Zacharie desperately tried to fain innocence, but even he knew he was uncovered. “What is what about?” There was an uncomfortable silence while they stared at each other. “Perhaps....it is about something.” Zacharie lowered his head slightly. “Can you really blame me, amigo? I don't like to spread rumors, but I love to listen to them...especially if they are true hehehe.” 

“I would think that you of all people would respect the value of privacy.” The Batter leaned over and put a finger under Zacharie's mask, as if to illustrate his point. Zacharie breathed in sharply. He wouldn't...would he? The Batter lifted the mask enough to see Zacharie's scared mouth before the sales man grabbed his wrist sharply to stop him from any more movement. He smiled as warmly as he could considering how much fear was in his heart at the moment. “The point is taken, mon Batter.” The Batter waited a beat before reluctantly letting go of the mask and drawing back as Zacharie righted his mask once again. 

The Batter swiftly began to untuck his shirt. “What are you doing mi amigo?” Zacharie had assumed that his earlier stunt had fully dissuaded The Batter from showing him the truth behind the rumors. He was righted of this notion by a word from The Batter. 

“I saw your mouth, I suppose its only fair you can see mine.” The Batter finished untucking his shirt and raised it to reveal a slit of a mouth that quickly opened to reveal a row of sharp teeth and a glistening tongue that quickly shot out in search of meat. Zacharie sat quietly and only marveled at the working of muscles that smoothly opened and closed the mouth as it moved. It looked rather hungry as it gnashed its teeth. 

Without thinking Zacharie innocently remarked. “Aren't you going to feed it?” The Batter looked surprised before answering. 

“It's rather messy as you can imagine. I wouldn't want to get your counter dirty.” Zacharie wasn't going to pass up a chance like this just for the sake of a dirty counter so he just shrugged. 

“I can always clean up after.” Zacharie said. The Batter gave an answering shrug and began to feed his mouth the slabs of meat which were quickly grabbed by the big tongue of the mouth and minced by the sharp teeth savagely as they glistened, True to The Batters warning, blood splattered, but Zacharie had cleaned up blood before whenever The Batter sauntered into his shop particularly beaten. It was nothing knew. The rejuvenating affect that the meat had on the aforementioned Batter was instant as his complexion became to brighten and the minor cuts on his face and abdomen began to heal. Zacharie quickly closed his eyes and reattached the cube to the save screen. He decided that while this was a fun show, he wouldn't want to mess with The Puppeteer any more then he had to. 

As he opened them one more, The Batter was feeding his mouth the last of the meat. Zacharie rummage around in his bag and pulled out a handkerchief. He handed it to The Batter who took it reluctantly. “Free of charge. Wouldn't want to ruin your shirt.” He said modestly. They both realized the futility of this statement as The Batters shirt was already covered in dirt and blood, but The Batter used the cloth to clean up anyway. Maybe if he offered to do The Batters laundry he would get to see more of that odd maw, but he decided not to push his luck on this occasion. 'Perhaps next time' he thought as The Batter walked over to the cube without a word to find it 'mysteriously' working again. Zacharie could have sworn he saw the shadow of a smirk on the purifier's upper face. Perhaps next time.


End file.
